Banoffee pie: caramel, bananas and cream, with nothing baked
An English dessert invented in the early seventies at The Hungry Monk restaurant in East Sussex, its name a collision of banana and toffee. The whole construction is four layers and no oven. Two things decide whether it cuts into clean slices: the base must be pressed really hard, ideally with the bottom of a glass, and the bananas must be tossed in lemon juice, because in contact with air they brown between the layers within the hour.
Your own work in that: 1 h.
- Base and caramel 40 min
- Assembly 20 min
- Chilling 180 min
Step by step
0 / 6 donePress the base hard
Blitz the biscuits in a processor or crush them with a rolling pin in a bag to fine sand. Mix with the melted butter and salt and tip into a 24 cm tin. Press with the bottom of a glass, hard, including at the edges. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
Ingredients: 300 g digestive biscuits · 140 g butter · 1 pinch salt
TipA weakly pressed base crumbles when cut and the whole dessert slides apart on the plate. Press as if you meant to flatten it — harder than feels necessary.
The base of a glass, hard, edges includedSeason the caramel with salt
Tip the caramel into a bowl and beat in the soft butter and half a teaspoon of sea salt. The salt is not an extra: caramel on its own is one-dimensionally sweet, and a pinch of salt brings out the toffee note and stops the whole dessert becoming cloying after two mouthfuls.
Ingredients: 800 g dulce de leche · 30 g butter · ½ tsp sea salt
TipIf you boil your own from condensed milk: the tin must be <b>completely submerged</b>, 3 hours over low heat, and watch the water level. An exposed tin can burst.
Spread the caramel on the base
Spoon the caramel onto the chilled base and spread it evenly right to the edges. The layer should be 1–1.5 cm deep. Return it to the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up before the bananas go on.
A centimetre of caramel, evenly to the edgesLay the bananas, tossed in lemon
Slice the bananas 5 mm thick and toss them gently in lemon juice. Arrange them overlapping, in two layers, over the caramel. The acid slows the enzyme that browns banana within minutes of meeting air.
Ingredients: 4 pcs bananas · ½ pcs lemon, juice · 500 ml whipping cream, 36 % · 30 g icing sugar · 50 g dark chocolate
5 mm slices, overlapping, two layersWhip the cream and spread it
Whip the very cold cream with the icing sugar to stiff peaks — here, unlike in a mousse, you want a foam that holds its shape on the dessert for hours. Spoon it over the bananas and swirl with the back of a spoon.
Stiff peaks, swirled with a spoonGrate chocolate and chill
Grate the chocolate coarsely straight onto the cream. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Cut with a knife dipped in hot water, wiping it between slices — otherwise the caramel drags behind the blade and smears the layers.
Three hours, and a knife dipped in hot water
Before you start
When to slice the bananas
Just before assembling, never ahead. Even with lemon, bananas lose colour after an hour in the open. Under the caramel and cream, though, they hold well for a day.
Without ready-made caramel
Two tins of condensed milk boiled for 3 hours give an identical result and cost less. Do it the day before and let the tins cool completely before opening.
Salted caramel version
Increase the salt to a teaspoon and scatter sea salt flakes over the top with the chocolate. The sweet-salt contrast is sharper still than in the classic version.
How long it keeps
A day in the fridge; longer and the bananas start to weep and grey even under cream. This is a dessert for a particular evening, not for keeping.
